Brooks Employee Of The Year 2012 - Phillip Webb.

Works Manager Steven Green presents Phil Webb with his Employee of the Year trophy.
Last week at the Smethwick Works, a small ceremony took place to honour our 2012 Brooks Employee of the Year.
Since his initial short spell with us way back in 1971, Phillip Webb has found himself at times elsewhere employed, but like the proverbial bad penny, he always come back. This, of course, is the only tendency which Phil shares with a bad penny. In all other respects he's an excellent guinea, so to speak. And fortunately, his most recent stint has lasted thus far since 2004.
That's a cheque that Phil's holding there. He wasn't going to be fobbed off with just a trophy.
A Brooks saddle will famously pass through as many as a dozen different pairs of hands before it leaves the factory. This is perhaps a good indicator of the variety of composite steps taken between a hide's arrival, and its subsequent departure in the guise of a B72, say.
Of course, the processes of cutting, pressing, soaking, drying and chamfering take into account only the leatherwork. Our steel construction, welding, riveting and assembly departments have their own story too.
Steven helpfully points out that Phil probably shouldn't try cashing it until the 27th.
And with a combined total of twenty years' service at Brooks, Phil could probably tell you all of them. He has a fluency of the requisite skills for more or less every stage of production.
When asked to say a few words about Phil for this year's upcoming Brooks Bugle, manager Steven Green was effusive-
"Phil's assortment of past duties has given him a wealth of experience and makes him a very versatile worker. He can perform almost every operation in the press department, including those that require a high degree of strength. In addition, he is still on hand as a really fast and accurate frame welder and is also called upon to assemble saddle frames.Does Phil have a Brooks nickname? Well, not so much these days, but in his past times with us, he was sometimes called either Spider (because of his surname), or Scooby, because of his reputation for rushing home after work to watch a certain children's TV cartoon programme..."